Singing and Playing..Do you find this hard/easy???

[BassBunny]

Check out the Yolanda Charles session from last year's Bass Day here.
[url="http://www.dustyend.com/finnbass/bassday08/"]http://www.dustyend.com/finnbass/bassday08/[/url]

I managed to record it and she does a workshop on Singing and Playing.


Bottom line is: Learn each part seperately and then bring them together, but slowly......

[Russ]

I think a lot of it is the co-ordination of your picking hand with the singing - that's the hardest bit, actually keeping the rhythm. Certainly, for more simple stuff, your fretting hand doesn't have that much to do. Many people seem to think it's a lot easier to sing and play if you play with a pick, as there's less to co-ordinate.

Another observation is, if you're like me - a lefty playing righty, it's that much harder, as your dominant hand isn't the one keeping the rhythm. Sometimes I think I should have just bit the bullet back in the day and learned to play bass lefty!

[allighatt0r]

I sing some backing vocals, and i would love to sing lead on some of the songs we play, but anything with what i would consider a bass line, i find impossible to sing. I can sing over a straight 8th note root note rhythm fine though.

A weird fact for myself, is one of the first basslines i learnt, is Pink Floyd's Money, Which i can not only sing, but talk totally normally over....

[RhysP]

Depends on the bass line. Playing guitar & singing is infinitely easier than playing bass & singing. I admire any bass player that does it well, even if I don't care for their actual music.

[Lfalex v1.1]

[quote name='jakesbass' post='465962' date='Apr 18 2009, 10:42 AM']I think thats harder as talking is improvisational wheras vocal parts are set. I've learned to improve my talking whilst playing to teach and display at the same time, I still get stuck (verbally) sometimes.

Playing walking basslines (or improvising lines in general) and singing is really hard.[/quote]

Whilst normally posessed of a perfectly adequate vocbulary, I find myself reduced to porcine grunts whilst playing!
As for singing, I can do it perfectly- as long as the vox are on the "off"beat.

2 good examples I can do;
With or without you - U2
Message in a Bottle - The Police

Otherwise, I'm useless. Just as well I can't sing!

[jim_bass]

I sing and play (sometime lead, sometimes backing)

If the song has a regular beat then it's generally easier. If the bass line plays offbeat or in a weird pattern then I struggle.

My fallback position is always root notes on the verse if its a hard bass line and just make sure I know the chorus/intro/outro/bridge etc.

Oh, and pitching a note when the bass plays a harmonic or a different bass note over the top generally throws me - so I get someone else in the band to pitch it with me first.

[Dr.Dave]

I find it easy. There's a reason for that. I practise and I've done it a lot.

It never ceases to amaze me that we spend years learning how to play bass to a reasonable standard then turn round and say we can't sing or can't sing and play when we've tried it once or twice.

If we don't practise other musical skills as well as we practise bass playing why would we expect them to come easily?

[RhysP]

I think it's a case of many bass players find singing back-up vocals a necessary evil rather than being something they actively enjoy. Obviously if you're also the main vocalist then you have to put the hours in & learn to do it properly.

[thisnameistaken]

[quote name='RhysP' post='466852' date='Apr 19 2009, 05:52 PM']I think it's a case of many bass players find singing back-up vocals a necessary evil rather than being something they actively enjoy.[/quote]

I enjoy the vocals more than bass, I think. Seems like singing jiggles my molecules around somehow, always leaves me smiling.

In one of my bands I probably wouldn't still be there if I was just playing bass, I'd be bored stiff.

[RhysP]

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='467305' date='Apr 20 2009, 11:07 AM']I enjoy the vocals more than bass, I think. Seems like singing jiggles my molecules around somehow, always leaves me smiling.[/quote]
When I sing NOBODY is left smiling....

[alexclaber]

I can sing and play most stuff nowadays. I find the hardest songs are reggae tunes where the bassline is syncopated counter-melody with lots of space. I also find it much easier to sing and play if it's something I've written myself - just more natural I guess.

Alex

[HeavyJay]

[quote name='Dr.Dave' post='466796' date='Apr 19 2009, 04:19 PM']I find it easy. There's a reason for that. I practise and I've done it a lot.

It never ceases to amaze me that we spend years learning how to play bass to a reasonable standard then turn round and say we can't sing or can't sing and play when we've tried it once or twice.

If we don't practise other musical skills as well as we practise bass playing why would we expect them to come easily?[/quote]

+1

[Deep Thought]

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='467305' date='Apr 20 2009, 11:07 AM']I enjoy the vocals more than bass, I think. Seems like singing jiggles my molecules around somehow, always leaves me smiling.[/quote]
I think I might be the same-I'm far happier if somebody says something complimentary about my singing than my playing-not that either happens very often!
Some songs I can sing over without thinking, others take some work, some I just can't do it at all. Often simpler stuff, or stuff with big gaps between notes/phrases where timing is an issue, I find much harder to sing over than busier ones.

[Spyke]

I do it a lot at college because no one else fancies doing Heavy Metal.
Bastards...

I sing and play Judas Priest stuff though as that's the only stuff I seem to have much luck with.

[Twigman]

couldn't do it even if my life depended on it

[thisnameistaken]

[quote name='Deep Thought' post='469323' date='Apr 22 2009, 10:02 AM']I think I might be the same-I'm far happier if somebody says something complimentary about my singing than my playing-not that either happens very often![/quote]

TBH nobody really hears my singing - I'm always backing somebody else or singing as part of a harmony. My voice doesn't sound all that pleasant on its own and I wouldn't expect any compliments if anyone heard it!

[jakenewmanbass]

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='467305' date='Apr 20 2009, 11:07 AM']I enjoy the vocals more than bass,[/quote]

s'cos you play a warwick

Edited April 23, 2009 by jakesbass

[geilerbass]

I really don't have any singing ability (nor, many would argue, bass-playing ability), but have always found singing and playing together very hard to do. I haven't really stuck at it, so that may explain why, but one interesting thing I noticed was I found it much easier to sing over a very basic groove if I played with a pick, rather than fingerstyle - the latter being my usual right-hand technique of choice.

Edited April 23, 2009 by geilerbass